


A Little Less Broken Together

by imogvnn



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Human, Asshole Derek, Comforting, Derek has literally no friends in New York, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, No Kate, Oblivious Derek, Oblivious Stiles, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Sassy Stiles Stilinski, lots of glaring, military veteran Derek, serial killings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-07 23:32:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7734058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imogvnn/pseuds/imogvnn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It took all of Stiles' energy not to storm out of the precinct when he made the realization that the asshole sitting at his desk like it was his own was in fact his new partner.<br/>It took even more of his energy to not throw the man out of the squad car the next day when it became apparent that the asshole behaviour was in fact there to stay, and not just a symptom of first day nerves.<br/>But apparently they're doing something right because they're given the case Stiles has been eyeing for months.</p><p>or</p><p>two broken people slowly find a way to be a little less broken together</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Less Broken Together

When Stiles first moved to the city every bustling street or crowded subway station was enough to give him a sense of joy lasting for the rest of the day. While an experienced New Yorker would look at you with bewilderment at the fact that such a mundane part of every day life would give him a little pep in his set but all that could be said was that it was the truth for the first few months. Every time that he waited for eons in an infinite seeming line at a coffee shop reminded him of how he left the piddly town of his childhood with it’s meagre opportunities and deadening dullness. 

He took every second where he wasn’t looking for jobs or sleeping to explore the city in minute detail, spending hours in central park, or finding the best hot dog stands dotted along the swarming streets until his stomach was far too full to be comfortable. His phone became a cluster of photos to document his miraculous adventure into a place that wasn’t Beacon Hills. If a local had glanced his was he would have shouted tourist in a thousand different ways.

But as every veteran New Yorker knows, the honeymoon period of the looming city does most sadly come to a close, leaving you with the realization that those characteristics you once admired are now reduced to simply an everyday test of your patience. It’s the city’s version of a practical joke, seeing how much of the aggravating road rage infused men you can take before you snap and swear at someone or wish to hell you had your own horn to honk at the assholes.

Stiles had found a way to control his frustration, making a point to groan or swear internally as much as he pleased, and giving himself free reign on that made the aggravation just that little bit easier. However everyone has those days, and today was one of them. Not only was it his day to collect the coffee for his precinct but the line was full of other people with the same intention of ordering a twenty-piece order which took far too long in and of itself plus the five minutes it took them to figure out how to carry the trays to their office.

When finally the wall of humans in front of him had dissipated he made it up to the cash, where a woman with a sweaty brow and an unamused expression looked at him with distain, letting a heavy feeling of expectancy hanging in the air between them. Stiles proceeded, with pride in his voice, to rattle off all of his fourteen-piece coffee order consisting of eleven coffees and one hot chocolate from his head, completing his speech with a quirked grin while all the girl did was puff out his total. 

Though he didn’t enjoy when it was his turn for coffee, he had the routine down pact, so down the street he walked with practiced ease, three coffee trays stacked perfectly on top of one another. Not a single rogue drop of coffee soiled his suit so he had the picture in his head that he was going to have a good day to make up for his god awful morning, maybe even get a good case as a cherry on top. The universe wasn’t exactly keen on him having as good of a day as he was when he sauntered into the precinct to find a man sat comfortably at his desk, looking as if he had been there for quite some time. 

No once else seemed to care a bit about the stranger who had apparently broken into the building as he swept the room and found not one set of eyes upon the man. The man hadn’t even had the decency to break in after Stiles had left the office for the day as to not ruin his hope for a decent day. Instead of passing out he coffee as per usual he set the stack on the nearest table, tugging his coffee out of it’s handy little pocket and strutting over to his desk. When the man refused to pry his eyes from a stack of papers Stiles coughed, somehow already irritated at the man. 

“Would you like to explain yourself?” 

“No, why should I feel the need to do so?” The man retorted, eyes still stuck to the page.

“Because you are a stranger who is currently sitting at my desk” He punctuated the sentence with a sip of his coffee, mid-sip the man finally decided to show Stiles his face. 

While Stiles was still irritated by the man he was glad his face was partially covered by the coffee cup for if it wasn’t he may have displayed his blushing, lightly pink cheeks. The man was, in plain terms, a work of art. His hazel eyes flecked with gold were shaded by a set of brilliant eyebrows, bushy but gorgeous. His cheekbones were prominent, even through the light beard that coated the bottom half of his face. And settled in that beard was his lips, pink and gorgeous. But no, Stiles reminded himself that he didn’t want that beard to scruff up his cheeks and he didn’t want to look into those eyes forever because he was pissed off at him, really pissed off.

“I was told to sit here. I’m a transfer, replacing some guy’s partner so if you will excuse me” Bushy brows gestured to the stack of papers “I have paperwork to do” 

“Do it somewhere else then, I have actual work to do, and by myself too, since my partner skipped town, so move” 

“Are you Stilinski?” 

“Yeah, why?” 

“I’m your new partner”

“Like hell you are, they warn us when we’re going to have a new guy here, so we can prepare when they mess up” Stiles took a second swig off coffee, if he wasn’t irritated by the man he might have been able to see that it made sense, as far as he knew no one else was partner-less.

“Well I’m not new, just new here, so I won’t fuck things up”

“If you’re so experienced why didn’t I get a notice from the Captain”

“It was last minute”

“How last minute?”

The lack of response was something he sensed he would have to get very familiar with if he was in fact the replacement. Quickly the man skimmed through the pages in front of him, eager to find a certain something until finally with a grumble he pushed the page of thin, cheap office paper across the desk with the words ‘to be partnered with Detective Stilinski’ highlighted in fluorescent yellow.

“Well move to your own damn desk” Stiles responded somewhat bitterly with a quirk of his head, gesturing two feet away at the desk that was partnered with his. They were connected but had a small wall in between the two, supposedly to create a feeling of privacy within partnerships, which normally he would call bullshit on but he actually sensed in this partnership it might be his saving grace.

Stiles’ eyes were drawn to the paperwork tucked neatly in a pile in front of the grizzly man, at the top of the page was splayed the name: Detective Hale, Transfer. But before he could continue to read the document Hale stood up with an ear wrenching screech of the chair and stomped the few steps to the second desk. Stiles wasted no time flopping into his chair, a contented sigh left his parted lips and he began his usual routine.

“There’s coffee in the corner, it’s horrible though, like sludge” A wrinkle crinkled his nose as he spoke “I’m pretty sure even cream won’t save it, so I’d just skip it, or drink it black” There was a pause before he continued “…like your soul” He attempted a meagre joke to lighten the mood, equally testing out whether or not Hale even had a sense of humor to speak of. Stiles chuckled a little but was silenced by the set of glaring eyes that seemed intent on dampening his mood coming from Hale.

“Dude what’s your problem?” Stiles questioned, but was met with nothing but a deep grumble in response, followed by a click of his pen and a mad scribble on the paper, a signature he deduced. Stiles rolled his eyes in annoyance, already dreading the following however long he had to put up with this asshole with eyebrows before one of them moved on or got promoted.

 

*   *   * 

 

In a hurried succession Stiles’ feet padded up the stairway from his door, having just met the delivery man sporting a wholly unimpressed expression. After a careless exchange of goods for wadded up bills he rejoined Scott who seemed purely content to continue his positon, splayed out covering most of the couch with his limbs. That was until the wafting scent of cheese and sauce made it’s way over and teased him to release his claim on the piece of furniture and enter a sitting position.

“I swear Scott, this man has the personality of a rock” Stiles grumbled with irritation, flipping open the, box plucking out the biggest piece. “-not the rock, he seems like a pretty cool guy, I mean a rock, and not one of those ones with the shiny speckles that glimmer or whatever” Stiles shook his head definitively “One of those plain jane gray ones you see on the side of the road that no one wants because they’re completely dull”

Finally complete his description of the horror that was his new partner he could shove the pizza into his mouth. His hope that the sauce loaded with crispy yet oozing cheese would put him out of him misery was coming true, his mind was floating away from the misery of the day until Scott’s voice interrupted his pizza induced euphoria.

“You’re exaggerating”

“You would think wouldn’t you, that even a person as grumpy as Hale would make an effort to talk to the person he would be spending all day with for the next who knows how long, maybe the rest of his career, but no, that is not the case”

“Maybe it’s just first day jitters?” Scott offered

“First day jitters means talking, constantly, and tripping over your own tongue the more you try not to”

Stiles felt a comforting hand pat on his back “That my friend, is just a you thing”

He responded with a nudge to his shoulder and a quick joking “Asshole”

“Maybe you should just make an effort to get to know him, ask him questions, you’ll have plenty of time what with the co-detecting you two will be doing”

“He doesn’t exactly strike me as the type who wants me to know him” 

“-Speaking of newish people” Scott jumped in excitedly” there’s a new intern at the lab” Scott mumbled as he simultaneously kicked off his shoes, leaving them to rest on the coffee table that sported far too many stains from various cups forgotten about over the years. 

“Do they irritate every nerve in your body?” A realization donned on Stiles “And by all I do not mean the ones down there” He added on quickly, along with a gesture to his crotch in case the meaning was not clear.

“-Stiles. No she’s actually really sweet- and pretty.”

“Mhmm”

“You should see her smile Stiles”

“Does she do things to your nerves, down there?” He gestured to the crotch area once again.  
Showing that Scott truly wasn’t listening to a word Stiles said he continued,

“Oh and did I mention her hair, it smells like heaven, all vanilla-y” Scott punctuated the closing of his sentence with a swig of the cheap beer they used on movie nights such as this one, not exactly the best, but gets the job done.

“Buddy, normally people get over these high school crushes, you know, once they’ve graduated high school”

“But you should see her” 

“Did you know over 70% of workplace crushes either go no where or end in disaster”

“That’s bullshit”

“Maybe, but the way you’re going on right now, if you ever get up the nerve to talk to her you’ll be lucky if you don’t’ become me and trip over your tongue”

“I talk to her on a daily basis”

“About what? Your deepest darkest secrets Scotty?”

“We talk about- you know, samples and stuff. Evidence, finger prints” Scott’s cheeks tint to a pale pink, it was an uncommon occurrence, appearing only in the rarest of situations.

“Well cheers Scotty” Stiles raised his bottle of beer with an expectant look in his eyes.

“To what?” Reluctantly Scott’s bottle joined Stiles’ in the air.

“To you being taken by a woman and me, well for some time without bushy brows”

A clink sounded throughout the room and they both downed their beer. Now that Stiles reassessed their timing for their weekly movie night, it was rather a poor choice, seeing as Monday wasn’t the best time to fill your system with alcohol. Leaving you with an acrid hangover the next day, especially having to deal with people, Friday would have been a far better choice, on the weekends, though there was the occasional emergency call, was far less people based.

“You call him bushy brows?”

“Scotty those brows are a work of art, they’re the bushiest brows around”

Scott chuckled in amusement before the air around them turned silent apart from the movie droning on in the background. The sky outside faded from blue, to purple and pink to a deep blue dotted with stars and all Stiles could hope for was that the edition of his new partner wouldn’t stunt him from any cases that week, luckily the next day was going his way, for they had been sent out to a crime scene first thing the next morning.

 

*   *   * 

 

They hadn’t been told any details of the case at the station, that was a variant between cases. Some they had instantly enough information to give them the general gist of the scene they were about to witness while with others they had been called upon so suddenly they were in the dark until the arrived at the scene. Stiles preferred those, they had an element of mystery about them that knowing erased completely, it could be the grizzliest dismemberment or the simplest and plain of shootings, either way they didn’t know what to expect. 

The ride was, expectedly, just as awkward as he had anticipated. No radio, for he hadn’t bothered to ask whether that was okay or not, but for him he preferred to keep his mind as uncluttered as possible before arriving at the scene. Though today he wished that he could just blare his favorite music to tear himself away from the deadening silence that had fallen upon the car. That was, at least until Hale spoke, to the udder shock of Stiles. 

“You’re young” He commented out of no where, eyes still fixed forward.

“I’ll take that as a compliment”

“No- I mean you’re young for homicide” 

“You didn’t hear? It was all over the front page of all sorts of newspapers”

“No. I wasn’t here”

“Oh right, where did you transfer from anyway?” Stiles let himself relax a little, grateful for any kind of conversation.

“Don’t change the topic”

Stiles couldn’t help but roll his eyes in annoyance. “Fine, I saved someone”

“How does that explain how you’re in homicide”

“I got a promotion for my immense bravery or some shit, got detective and any job within that   
title, I chose homicide”

After a few seconds, when even the expected grunt or stiff nod had not been completed Stiles scoffed, this man either had no social skills or simply had no intention or want to be a civil person. He began to wonder how Hale had ever gotten a job, let alone any friends or partners. True he was attractive, very much so, but he kept his eyes hidden behind the bushy furrowed brow, and if he couldn’t complete even a simple human conversation Stiles couldn’t imagine what his flirting was composed of, perhaps a few menial grunts. he couldn’t possibly picture the man who seemed to have a personal thundercloud above him at all times smiling, let alone smirking or winking to catch some girl’s attention. 

For a split second he did picture what it would look like if Hale were to curve his lips into a genuine, honest to god smile, it was a pretty good picture. But it was soured by the fact that the man showed no intention of ever being kind or smiling, and was currently staring down the traffic lights like he had a vendetta against all traffic lights.

 

*   *   * 

 

“What’ve we got?” Stiles questioned, finalizing the rolling up of his sleeves, he had always done this, ever since he became detective and the standard was a suit to work every day, not exactly the easiest thing to move comfortably in while examining a crime scene. Pulling out two pairs of plastic gloves from his pocked he stretched on of the two pairs over his nimble hands and tossed the other behind him to Hale. 

The scene was a semi dilapidated town house, not in any condition anyone should be living in but as Stiles snuck a glance around the neighborhood, it was certainly a poor income housing community, it wouldn’t be a stretch that someone had been living in such poor conditions.

“Stabbing” Erica handed over a clipboard into his waiting hand, “First to the upper chest” A diagram of the human body on the papers had just above the heart highlighted fluorescent yellow “Second to the upper abdomen” Another spot highlighted on the same diagram showed just below the last rib, an obvious second attempt at the heart, failed but an attempt it still was.  
Erica started up a set of rickety stairs. 

“Who’s eyebrows?” she asked, followed by a chuckle.

“Oh right. Hale, Erica. Erica, Hale” He hadn’t bothered to even look up from the documents, he had the way he did things, and bushy brows being there wasn’t going to make him change his routine, his routine worked, Stiles had learned to cope just fine without a partner and he sure as hell didn’t need some shitty replacement.

“Pleasure” Erica cooed, which earned her a glare from both Stiles and Hale.

Atop the stairs they entered one of two rooms, a bedroom, where the murder had obviously been committed, judging by the blood smears across the mothy carpet. Stiles took in the room before the body, it was tiny, but not so tiny it was unbearable, with nothing but a large but barren bed and a dresser, the flat surface on top caked with a thick layer of dust. Bed was unmade, with sheets that easily tore under the lightest of touches, it had been abandoned at one point, someone had ditched the rotting home, they had been right to do it, whether or not it felt that way. But someone had been living from a meagre suitcase in the corner, open for the world to see, not a private person, or someone who just didn’t care. Possibly a mixture of both.

“Is he just going to stand there?” Called out a gruff voice behind him, Hale.

“Let him do his thing newbie” Erica took it upon herself to pat his shoulder consolingly.

Finally Stiles passed the bed, following the trial of blood splatters to where the body lay cold, colorless, limp on the ground. 

“Okay so woman, mid thirties, there’s blood everywhere, amateur job” Stiles sighed, the woman was pale, yes pale from the lack of blood but was pale before too, her raven hair matted beyond repair, eyes sunken in with almost comical dark circles half mooning under her eyes. Clothes follow the pattern of not caring, black sweatpants, dirty grey sweatshirt four sizes too big “She’s a shelter goer” he called out, not to anyone in particular as he looted her sweatshirt finding a small pack of white powder and an orange container of pills. 

“Druggie, probably thought this would be a safe hideout” he mumbled, returning to a standing position and crossed his arms together.

“Get your act together Erica” Stiles teased “You all should have found these before I had a chance to look her over” He chuckled as he slid the two pieces of evidence into plastic bags and tossing them Erica’s way.

“Don’t be sassy Stilinski, we just got here too, we haven’t had much time” She teased back.

“I was really hoping this case would be something exciting” He grumbled, he always loved the unique cases, the ones that took weeks of dedication, something that differed from the normal. Stiles could hear Erica’s quiet chuckle behind them but soon Hale’s voice was overpowering the quiet noise.

“It’s a murder Stilinksi” Daggers were shooting from Hale’s eyes in that moment.

“It’s a stabbing Hale, how many of those have you seen in your career”

“My fair share- “

“-Exactly, now how many have you seen where a victim was completely drained of blood, placed on a fully inflated white air mattress in a spotless white room with glass cases of the victim’s blood placed next to him?” Stiles challenged.

“None- “

“-Exactly. “

“-But that’s not the point, you can’t discount that there’s a woman in there on the floor, dead because someone decided it was okay to stab her to death” Hale stalked behind him as they exited the building, Stiles was eager to keep this conversation up, no matter if Hale was mad at him, it was the most the man had talked since they met. 

“Do you honestly think that I’m emotionless, I feel for that woman in there, maybe she deserved to die maybe she didn’t, but a murder is still a murder and no one deserves to die like that” He responded in a venomous tone, arms still crossed as he leaned against the hood of the car. “…think about it this way, a lawyer wants a case that will make him think differently, something that’s not some normal case, a doctor wants a patient with unique ills, to challenge them”

Derek stormed past him, stopping like a thought had caught his mind, his hands were shoved into his pocket, brow furrowed in a way it normally wasn’t, almost as if deciding if what he wished to say was worth saying, whether it was worth continuing the argument. Perhaps he decided it wasn’t worth speaking for which seemed to be a chore for him, or he saw his logic was deteriorating rapidly by the second, whichever it was instead of opening his mouth Hale took the handle of the black car door and jerked it open, pulling himself into the car in a furious manor. Stiles wondered if the animosity of the action was intentional, meant to draw his attention more than it already had been drawn or if Hale was truly just furious at Stiles. 

Either way Stiles wore a smirk of victory as he sauntered over to Hale’s window, tapping a knuckle against the glass to hint he should roll the pane down. 

“What do you want?” Was the first thing out of his partner’s mouth when the pane was low enough for the two to hear each other.

“Where do you think we’re going, we’ve barely looked at the scene, that was just an overview of the crime”

“Well then why the hell did you come outside?” 

“The outside of the house is just as telling as the body, mail, garbage, it’s important dude. What did they teach you at detective school back in San Diego” He mocked but opened the door for Hale, enjoying watching him exit the vehicle grumpier than before.

“I hate you Stilinski” was hollered at him, Hale hadn’t even made the curtesy to turn back towards Stiles before speaking.

“Good thing that the feeling is mutual then dude”

“Don’t you dare call me dude one more time or I swear Stilinksi I’ll- “

“-What dude? You’ll do what?” Stiles chuckled, this was almost too easy. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Shut up Stilinksi!”


End file.
